Genre

ACTION, DRAMA

Brief

A group of Belgian teens fix up a boat and sail off for a summer of fun across the Atlantic Ocean. They end up ashore on an unmarked island only to discover a lost German submarine. The submarine happened to be filled with gold. The teens take some of the treasure, but must fight off the hidden Nazis abroad who have been searching for the stolen gold.

Overall Rating

FAIR

Point of View

THIRD PERSON

Narrative Elements

Authors Writing Style: FAIR

Characterization: FAIR

Commerciality: FAIR

Franchise Potential: FAIR

Pace: FAIR

Premise: FAIR

Structure: FAIR

Theme: FAIR

Accuracy of Book Profile

The genre is listed as young adult, but this is not really a coming of age tale. Although the men are younger, they are clearly fully functioning adults as they are able to circumnavigate the globe. Labeling the genre as an action or drama will help preview the contents more accurately to that of a group of men learning a lesson about growing up. The story is about the external conflict of the gold discovery not the men's internal conflicts.

Draw of Story

The idea of discovering gold on an abandoned island is given a historical twist in that the gold is Nazi gold. Thus the sailing men have a hidden enemy that is ruthless but also that must remain hidden from global prosecution. Having war criminals who need to travel international waters to regain billions in stolen wealth is a nuanced layer of stealth within the normal action chase trope.

Possible Drawbacks

There are thirteen guys/boys that are sailing as well as thirteen women. This is a lot of characters that do not allow for much internal conflict or emotional growth. Although the numbers often work in their favor for survival, too many characters creates little emotional attachment to the protagonists. By lessening the amount of characters they will be able to grow individually and the audience is more likely to root for their success if they are more attached to the actual character aside from the external goal.

Use of Special Effects

THE STORY RELIES HEAVILY ON SPECIAL EFFECTS

Primary Hook of Story

The hook is that the shipwrecked young men discover a lost Nazi submarine that is filled with treasure. They rescue themselves only to be pursued by Nazis hiding in plain sight back home who want to locate the rest of the loot.

Fanbase Potential

The WWII use of Nazis as villains generally has a successful turnout for fans of action and or historical dramas. A lost submarine and subsequent makes the genre more action oriented thus would likely have a larger fanbase as an action film rather than a drama.

Awards Potential

This seems to be an action film and thus is not likely to gain any awards outside of potentially special effects or sound design recognition. The ethics of stolen Nazi gold and the characters' emotional range are not in depth enough to garner other types of awards.

Envisioned Budget

LARGE BUDGET

Similar Films/TV Series

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, RIVER OF DEATH, WOMAN IN GOLD, THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, THE MAN FROM UNCLE, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE

What’s New About the Story

The chase sequences and the discovered submarine full of gold are made more interesting by owners. Having Nazi war criminals pursuing unsuspecting teens is interesting in that the risk is worth the billion dollars, but also there is a degree they must remain hidden to avoid their true identities being discovered as fake refugees. This makes the criminals both more stealthy and ruthless in order to cover their tracks. Focusing more on the main conflict over this gold, rather than the Belgians' accidental trip to the island would help focus the plot and even out the pacing.

Lead Characters

There are thirteen young men manning the ship and thus there is not a lot that defines them outside of their duties while sailing. It is difficult to distinguish the men by their personalities and what makes them different as characters.

Uniqueness of Story

This needs more focus on providing memorable characters to go along with the interesting premise of the discovered treasure aboard a lost Nazi submarine. There is a lot of good action and plot elements, but the characters are underdeveloped without internal conflicts. The women are even less developed with a lot of trauma that is ignored as the Nazis pursue the goal. The women have just as big of an involvement in the chase and could also in the initial sailing adventure, but are underplayed in their capabilities.

Possible Formats

Film - Studio, Film - Streaming, TV Series - Cable, TV Series - Streaming

Analyst Recommendation

WORK IN PROGRESS

Justification

While the story has many positive points, it has room for improvement (see possible paths below). If you can't change the story at this point, my suggestion is using your notes as a guide to highlight the best aspects of it when taking the next steps, either putting a pitch page together, a treatment, or a presentation.

Tips for Improvement

Shortening the amount of protagonists and giving the women more agency will help create emotional investment in the external goal. Also adding internal conflict to the external conflict will add depth to both the antagonists and protagonists. Considering a shorter backstory and set up to initiate the hero's journey and main conflict as evading the Nazis rather than an island jaunt will focus the plot and even out the pacing. At present there seems to be three separate concepts of the covert submarine mission, an island adventure and a Nazi recovery chase, by integrating the Nazi efforts earlier, the tension will be more consistent throughout.